‘We still have the body’: Maryland woman finds a live scorpion in a bag of spinach

Sri Sindhusha Boddapati of Chevy Chase, Md., says she found this scorpion in a bag of spinach she purchased at a Giant store in Northwest Washington. She says she later trapped it in this water bottle before killing it. (Sri Sindhusha Boddapati)

A Maryland woman who wanted to make lunch this week was met with an unwelcome surprise: What appeared to be a live scorpion in her bag of spinach.

Sri Sindhusha Boddapati of Chevy Chase said she was going to make a dish of spinach and lentils, with spinach she purchased Friday at the Giant store on Wisconsin Avenue near the Friendship Heights Metro station. On Monday, the scorpion changed that plan.

“It freaked me out because it started crawling,” she said.

Boddapati trapped the scorpion in a bottle, then assassinated it by sprinkling it with Indian pepper, said her husband, Shanmukha Pranay Rajeev Jerripothula.

“We still have the body, and we have no idea what to do with it,” he said.

A Giant representative offered to refund the price of the spinach — about $2, Boddapati said — but the couple was still waiting to hear back from the store after sending photos of the bag. The supermarket chain said in a statement that it apologizes for the incident.

“Customer satisfaction is our highest priority,” the statement said. “We regret any inconvenience to our customer. We take the quality of our products very seriously and we are following up with the supplier to take every step to ensure this isolated incident does not occur in the future.”